Look for my upcoming book: The Divided Era and pls follow me on Twitter @tomdelbeccaro. I am the former Chairman of the CA Republican Party and I am the Publisher of PoliticalVanguard.com, author of The New Conservative Paradigm and frequent talk radio and television commentator. I am considered to be the most Heard Voice in CA Republican Politics and was heralded by Mona Charen as a writer that “Not since Newt Gingrich in the 90s has a Republican activist so clearly analyzed what has gone right and wrong for the party and the Conservative movement. Human Events called me – “One of the GOP’s most effective communicators.” The Economist Magazine said “Republican spines are . . . stiffened by conservative bloggers such as Tom Del Beccaro." Outside of politics, I am a business attorney based in the San Francisco Bay area.

California's Low On Water? Time to Fine the Water Resources Board Not Its Citizens

California is in the midst of one of its many droughts. To combat the current drought, the otherwise do-nothings of the California Water Resources Board are proposing to fine citizens they call “water hogs” $500 per day. Instead of fining helpless consumers, California’s government should do its job for once and seriously increase water supplies.

It is well known that California is the most populated state in the Union, with more than 38 million people. Its population was just under 20 million in 1970, when the bulk of its current water storage and delivery systems were already built. In other words, the California governments have done very little to significantly increase water supplies in over 40 years, even though its population has doubled during that period of time.

California’s current drought was at its worst in 2013, and continues to this day. It is apparently less well known to the public, the media, and government that California has been subject to considerable droughts over the centuries, lasting up to 20 years in a row. In fact, contrary to the notion that California is suffering more droughts than usual, according to Scott Stine, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Cal State East Bay, as reported in the San Jose Mercury News, “the past century has been among the wettest of the last 7,000 years.”

Drought (Photo credit: Bert Kaufmann)

Rather than face the reality that California is subject to drought, what has California government been doing? Not much beyond talking.

As we all know, the President and others are selling the canard that the current drought is the result of global warming or climate change. The fact that we had decades- long droughts years before industrialization doesn’t matter to them as they bloviate over a drought of several years.

Simply stated, California government has other priorities – priorities which to them are far more important that ensuring that 38 million people have water. They include:

A High Speed Rail project, mired in lawsuits and of uncertain costs – at least $68 billion but perhaps double that amount, and

A 2004 $3 billion stem cell bond program ($6 billion with interest) that has produced no approved therapies but has, according to the AP, resulted in “the opening of sleek buildings and gleaming labs at a dozen private and public universities built with matching funds” without any cures in the pipeline. Of course, now they want more money.

California legislators spend millions more on nonessential items like $2.7 million for a new swimming pool in Calexico near the Mexican border – during a drought. California is also spending an additional $46.6 million to build up to 54 hydrogen fuel stations to serve a state of 158,648 square miles. That is one station for every 2,938 square miles. Hope you don’t get stranded.

Rather than waste money on such projects, which can’t possibly be more important than water, California should look to places like Singapore to learn what a responsible government should be doing.

Singapore has but 247 square miles. It is a population of nearly 4.5 million people. Obviously, it has very little land for such things as reservoirs. Instead, Singapore relies on 15 reservoirs, desalinated water, water reclamation, and imported water to meet their water needs.

Singapore obviously made water production a priority for its tiny landmass that is 0.155% of California’s landmass, yet has 8.4% of California’s population. That is what responsible governments do, and one reason why Singapore has the third highest per-capita GDPs in the world, despite its size and lack of natural resources.

Rather than serve its citizens, Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the water resources board, lords over them and states that: “I like to say, having a browning lawn and a dirty car is a badge of honor.”

You see for California, which is #1 in the country in poverty in no small part because of a lack of water for agriculture, government failure is not only an option, it is standard operating procedure.

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I’m sure you felt good mocking our state government, but let’s cut through the ink you call opinion and get to some facts. “California should look to places like Singapore to learn what a responsible government should be doing.” Really?! Did you even think about doing a quick check on this one? You’re comparing apples to oranges here Tommy Boy, or rather a dry, Mediterranean climate (California) to a tropical rainforest climate with no distinctive seasons (Singapore). This results in uniform temperatures and pressure, high humidity and…wait for it, abundant rainfall. That’s abundant with an “A” Tommy. I can think of another word that begins with an “A” that describes a person who would print such garbage without doing a little research first. But it won’t get printed unless I’m talking about a donkey. If you’d done your homework on this like any good high school student would have, you would know that Singapore’s weather translates into reservoirs that are constantly refilling. Now contrast that with our reservoirs in California that depend upon runoff from snowmelt to stay full. And when global weather patterns change due to…wait for it, climate change, we lose our snow pack, there is much less runoff, and water levels in our reservoirs get dangerously low. There are plenty of things wrong with our state government, but writing this tripe isn’t helping, and only serves to fuel the uneducated, of which you are dangerously close to joining. Bill Christner Jr. I try to put the facts in perspective.

The Central Valley Project, designed many years ago, was designed to provide Central Valley farmers with enough water to grow crops through a drouth lasting for five years. But today the reservoirs are empty because environmentalists convinced a judge that a small fish in the Sacramento River Delta was more important than the farming, the food production and the economic powerhouse of the Central Valley. That is the true story of the current California “drouth” in the Central Valley. Look it up.

Because Singapore has rain, therefore California’s politicians need not provide water resources for it’s citizens. Interesting use of logic there. By the way, funny thing about drought, not only does it not rain but it also doesn’t snow. I think I would go so far as to say that relying on snow melt to supply water during a drought is short sighted and irresponsible, particularly in a region with a history of decades long dry spells. In short your leaders are either idiots or so self centered they care nothing for those that elect them and you sir are an idiot for defending them.

You are suffering a self imposed drought…. created by Progressive politicians who blew up all the dams that used to direct water to your waterways… and sent the fresh water out to sea. Why? Google Agenda 21 US map to see.

Your state government deserves to be mocked. Your crooked lib politicians have bankrupted the state and have kept the massive pension obligations off the books.

That said, today’s issue is water and the writer was correct in pointing to Singapore. It isn’t about which are gets more rainfall … it’s about what the politicians have done (or not done in the case of Cali) to capture and provide for the needs of the citizens.

We all realize that Cali (especially SoCal) gets very little rainfall. Yet, the ignorant tree hugging politicians allow hundreds of millions of gallons to flow right down that concrete sluice known as the L.A. River … straight into the pacific every year.

Here’s some perspective for ya Bill… California could build SIXTY desalination plants for what it’s about to spend on one (what will eventually be a failed) high speed rail system that no one wants. What does this mean? A) California could put TENS OF THOUSANDS of people to work in skilled jobs almost immediately. B) California could actually become drought resistant and not only refill its reservoirs by mechanical means but ship water further east.

I see a lot of bashing from you, Bill, but no refutation. That’s not perspective.

And out of what is this water to be conjured? The Colorado runs dry before it reaches the Pacific. Snowmelt has disappointed. Groundwater in California is being pumped way faster than it can be replaced. And last but not least, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s not raining!

Sure there are projects that could be done that might help a little. But desalinization is tremendously expensive, and so are aqueducts and reservoirs (many of which by the way, were indeed constructed at great cost after the droughts of the 90′s). So where’s the money for these going to come from? Would you support the necessary taxes?

Why is it so hard for us to understand that conserving water and other natural resources is BY FAR the cheapest way to make sure there’s enough to go around?

By the way Singapore has an annual rainfall of 92 inches a year. Which probably helps, don’t you think? California as a whole by contrast gets about 20. Besides, Singapore is densely populated and strictly urban. Any water projects can be limited in geographical and therefore engineering and monetary scope. No five hundred mile tunnels to dig. Not a whole lot of juggling to do in terms of water rights: vine growers against almond growers, swimming pool owners against golf courses. If you could find a place on earth with something like the same challenges that California faces–that’s doing a far better job of dealing with those challenges, I’d like to hear about it. Singapore doesn’t cut it as a comparison.

California could eliminate a lot of water use by removing a huge population of water users: illegal aliens. But the Democrats farm them for votes and clients for their welfare state and Republicans for cheap stoop labor, so they remain.

Desalinization is expensive? So is a high speed rail to nowhere, but which is more important to you right now? by the way, your neighbors to the north recently dumped millions of gallons of fresh water for no good reason. Too bad there wasn’t a way to transport all that wasted water to where it was needed, but then again, supplying water to major population centers is expensive and the people need high speed rail more than water transport.

9-volt, no rational person would argue against conservation but conservation alone will not be sufficient to ensure adequate water supplies for CA. California is growing and it is not possible to “cut your way” to growth. Let’s take the billions wasted on a bullet train and stem cell research labs, neither of which are likely to produce any tangible benefits, and invest it in water desalinization research or a national water grid. After all, we have terrible flooding in one part of the country while other parts are in drought. Wouldn’t it be great if we could move water around to where it is needed, like we do with electricity and oil? We could do this if we had any semblance of political leadership in this country. – Steve in CA

Let’s start with cancelling the train to nowhere. That’s at least 68 billion to start. Desalinization is expensive but death by thirst is more so. Water reclamation is also an option. Finally, repatriate illegal aliens. That will reduce water demand by millions of people. None of this will be done so I’ll just watch Kalifornia dry up. Nature is a self correcting mechanism. I wonder how it will correct. I expect it will not be pleasant.

Good article. Contrary to Felicia Marcus, it is not a badge of honor to have a brown lawn in California. If you live above a groundwater basin that basin needs recharged. Where do you think it gets about 15% of its recharge from? From people watering their lawns, that’s where. All that not watering lawns will do is deplete groundwater basins.

Another over-simplification from Wayne. Recharge varies by basin geology so the 15% number is fabricated. Also, many urban basins are contaminated so recharging the shallow groundwater is NOT a benefit. And the whole reality that Wayne presents here is not unlike going to a sale to save money by spending money you don’t have.

I see larry that you are in a fit of dxuchebaggery over this story, mainly because it attacks your religon, leftist lunacy. You care therefore you must be right……………….You arent right lar….your are a climate loon who thinks pounding it in to peoples heads will bring about “social justice’ and make those rich capitalist pay……….never bothering with the fact that your “leaders” al gore, pelosi, reid, obama, and MOST od the democart party leadership are either million or billionaires, who DONT hand their wealth out to the “people” Pelosi wont allow union workers on her nappa hotel resort…….Al just built a palace on the california beach, that should soon be under water, according to him. Your central valley has turned into a wasteland, hurting the poor and rich alike…..and most farmers are far from rich, but you are too bone stupid to know that People like you are destroying california, and in turn america. In 20 years, the mess will be unimaginable. But of course, everthing i said is a lie right larry? Keep pumping the neighbors cat while rome burns dxuchebag, you lack the talent to fiddle………..

Certainly if the US (or even California) government worked as the Singapore government does, then priorities and spending would be different. But trying to compare what Singapore has done to address it water issue (or any other resource or technology issue for that matter) to the inaction of California legislators is a fool’s errand. People want everything but want to pay little; similarly, they want to control how the government spends it money but are unwilling to accept responsibility when things don’t quite work out as they had hoped. California voters have locked up the majority of the budget through a seemingly democratic series of initiatives, limiting the State government to very little discretionary funds. Singapore citizens do not tell the government how to spend their money. However, they do contribute a large portion of their paychecks through incredibly high taxes. If only California had the luxury of citizens willing to fork over high taxes and keep quiet about how that money was spent, the water politics would have long since been resolved.

Mr. Del Baccaro, your article contains many assertions that need fact checking. E.g. “the California governments have done very little to significantly increase water supplies in over 40 years, even though its population has doubled during that period of time.” Well, no. Major reservoirs have been built, vast amounts of water are now recycled, efficiency has greatly improved, and groundwater basins are being recharged. (How else have we escaped widespread water shortages until now?) It’s just that a few big dams keep on not being built because they are bad ideas and have no financial backers. But the most careless of your comments is that “California’s poverty is due to a lack of water for agriculture.” Check again: the large farmers are not hurting here. We do have a feudal system in the Central Valley with a few wealthy landowners and legions of the white and brown underclass who will never climb out of poverty until there is more economic justice and educational opportunity financed by… the government.

Mr. Del Beccaro is a great example of one who works to make our governments (state and Federal) dysfunctional. He obviously know nothing about California water issues but is happy to bloviate his opinions and thus lead the WSJ readers astray. I have worked for local, California and Federal water agencies for 30 years and I bet Mr. Del Beccaro hasn’t spent one day dealing with California’s complex water issues. What he does know how to do is gather a few facts, distort them and try to turn a complex issue into a partisan fight. The author’s agenda shows in his vocabulary – do nothing, canard, non-essential items, lords over them, etc. – that is an emotional attacks free of facts or reality. He says “California’s governments have done very little to significantly increase water supplies. “ Untrue. California’s governments have spent billions on new surface and groundwater storage. Urban water use per person has declined by a third. Agriculture, which uses 80 percent of the State’s developed water, has become more efficient but can do much more. And apparently this author does not support the will of the people because the projects he ridicules were approved by voters. And, the crocodile tears he sheds for the poor ‘illegal’ farmworkers seems to miss the fact that farmworker wages are so low that they are always poor. The California government is NOT a failure and has high ratings with the voters. But that doesn’t stop Mr. Del Beccaro from spreading his vitriol.

Thank you Mr. Del Beccaro! My only issue with your article is the comparison to how Singapore gets their water as what we should do. We do all of those things except the De-Sal, just on a scale not large enough. We have reservoirs, we reclaim water, we import water from neighboring states. De-Sal, however great the idea is, we cannot do. De-Sal requires huge amounts of electricity. Just as CA’s water network has not changed in 40 years, neither has our electrical generation capacity. In fact, our generation is LESS than it was 40 years ago. CA relied on 3 primary generation points: Hoover Dam, San Onofre NPS, and Diablo Canyon NPS (Nuclear Power Station). San Onofre is being shuttered as we type, and Diablo Canyon’s NRC license renewal is on hold due to people losing their minds after the Fukushima accident. There are no Large Scare (500+ Megawatt) facilities in the works.

I know you’re talking water, but to point out the CA government’s ineptitude, The High speed Rail… It’s no longer high speed as it has to stop in nearly every Cent-Cal city, and it will never run from San Francisco to LA, instead doing as AmTrak does and busses people over the Grapevine between Bakersfield and LA. It’s a boondoggle that is no longer what the people voted for back in 2008 or 09, whenever it was, and even if it gets court approval, I doubt I will ever see it in my lifetime here in Fresno, CA, Ground Zero for both water and train battles.

Rarely does a comment such as that by John K managed to be wrong on so many easily verified facts. The CVP was built during the depression to end the horrible overdraft of groundwater in the Central Valley. The overdraft didn’t end – farmers just expanded the acreage irrigated. The overdraft was reduced for a period because it took a while for the new acreage to be brought into production. I am not sure where the 5-year drought replacement came from (source?) but this is the worst 3-year drought on record and it follows a significant drought in 2009. The delta has nothing to do with Sierra reservoirs being empty. Delta water is pumped to the west side and all the Southern Sierra reservoirs feed the eastside. Only Folsom has released any water for fish and that was for salmon. The Exchange Contractors made a call on the San Joaquin and that is related to pumping restriction in the Delta but is a relatively small amount of water. Also, Sacramento river released are largely to hold back the salty ocean water from ruining the supply in the Delta used by farmers and Contra Costa WD. The ‘small fish’ is an indicator species that is used to judge the health of the Delta for salmon and other important food fish. It seems that John K is more interested in sending almonds to China than in the jobs of fishermen and the industry that depends on fishing. As for the Central Valley being an ‘economic power house’ it is facts that all the agriculture in California is less than five percent of the economy. Perhaps John missed the fact that agricultural production will continue to set new records for production this year. When readers are advised to ‘look it up’ I suggest that they do. John K, you are entitled to your own opinions but please don’t present them as facts.

How about this idea? Abandon that stupid high speed train to/from nowhere and spend the money on a Keystone-style pipeline to gather up the excess water from Washington State and send it down here. Build a few desalination plants on the coast. Quit growing rice in the desert. That’s a few to get started.

I live in LA and have seen these nonsensical politics of water go on an on. Last drought we had they increased the water prices many a fold. But when next year we had record number of rain from el ninio, the water prices did not come down. Where are our water highways? Where are our car Highways? We pay for it to be build, yet all is being built is more welfare, more buses, more trains. Buses destroy the roads, for each train line, we could build 3 lanes on the accompanying freeway.

7 out of 10 reservoirs in Santa Clara County cannot be filled to capacity due to seismic concerns. How long has this been a concern you ask?? Better than 30 years!! Have they addressed this concern??? Hardly!

If California shifted from a socialist approach to supplying water to a more capitalistic approach, there would be an oversupply of water. In such a world, those who want to waste water could, as long they pay for it.

So you’re convinced that the state resources has performed flawlessly in their water management duties and therefore are justified in fining citizens for wasteful water use? Oh, and who decides what is wasteful?

How true all of this is. Those running California, at all levels, have no problem with rubber-stamping every single application for a building permit, and areas such as Sacramento have grown by leaps and bounds for decades. At the same time, California politicians seems to be welcoming with open arms every illegal alien who wishes to make himself and his extended family at home in this state. And yet. there have been no significant efforts to increase water supplies. A greater dereliction of duty is hard to imagine.

Put all residential building and developing on HOLD! Start measures that will reduce the population of the state to pre-1978 levels. Let the agricultural centers of California have water again. The water shortage is bad planning but most of all greed on the part of a few politicians and developers.

I cannot understand why the Government has not built a nationwide irrigation system. It would cost less to build than an Interstate highway system, and could greatly reduce flooding in areas throughout the country, while at the same time be able to irrigate farm lands, provide firefighting water for forest, and not to forget drinking water when it was needed. It is cheap and the responsible thing to do to save billions of dollars in insurance payouts. Droughts, throughout the country, and flooding in central areas would be eliminated. It is past the time for this to happen. We can pipe oil and gas for thousands of miles, but not water?

It’s time to unveil the Progressive Agenda 21 that politicians executed, when blowing up all the dams that used to feed waterways in Ca. Investigate what dams wer destroyed & where the water was re-directed…. I think you’ll find they are dumping fresh water in the sea to intentionally drive humans off their land. Think of all the animals & plant life they are killing, just to create a Progressive Utopia. Google UN Agenda 21 Map of US to see their goal.

“California should look to places like Singapore to learn what a responsible government should be doing. ” That makes the HUGE assumption that our lovely state government has the slightest inclination to BE responsible. This article truly nails it, although falls somewhat short in one area. The Federal government, especially the unelected but powerful bureaucrats in the EPA, etc., are also culpable. As are certain powerful congressmen/women from California, such as George Miller, who truly believe the San Joachim Valley—the most prolific food-producing region in the USA and source of at least 1/3 of all food consumed in the US and food exporter to many other countries— should be turned back into a desert!

Nobody wants species to go extinct, but denying farmers and others water from the Sac’to Delta and other sources, bringing about devastating poverty and the compromising of national food security in order to protect a subspecies of fish (smelt) that is plentiful elsewhere is a grotesque distortion. My gosh, I used to feed my cats smelt!

Wow, thank you for the article. At least someone recognizes the stupidity and cruelty of our state government. I sometimes think they hate us. Most bizarre: In the midst of all these restrictions, a city can still hose down their sidewalks, as long as it is to wash away the human excrement left by our valiant Homeless Americans. No green lawn for you! But defecate where you choose.

Something is very, very wrong here. It might be time finally to leave.

I disagree. fine the citizens. that is the best idea. These same “citizens” voted in Barack twice. They voted in boxer and brown. These same imbeciles elect people like maxine and pelosi. They will get tingles over electing Hillary and/or Warren. They elected a SUPERMAJORITY of democrats to run their state. They elected 2 democrat senators, a democrat governor and a democrat president. Most assuredly, the water board is full of 2 time obama voters as well. Fine them. Fine them to the hilt. Let the idiots of California have their desert cricket, while they suffer thirst. Serves these imbeciles right. I celebrate at their misery. they deserve every bit of suffering they get for being the same idiots who unleash a democrat president on America every 4 years like puppets.

You are right on the money here. California must certainly be one of the most irresponsible states in the union. But as we know, the people of California continue to vote the same people in time after time. Oh well.

The “solution” to CA’s water challenges is to essentially take the Sierra runoff away from the Sacramento Delta and send to LA. Any aerial view of SoCal shows what seems like 3 of 4 homes with swimming pools and lots and lots of green lawns. SoCal is on mindless pro-growth autopilot while the rest of the state is told to cut back. CA “reofmred” the electricity market back in 2000 and the businesses have been leaving ever since. Now add water to the list of screw-ups. WHAT future?

I have contacted Gov. Brown several times with a possible solution to the fresh water crisis and have not received any answer to those communications. The technology I have patented is well proven. I suggested that the material I sent to him be reviewed by a qualified engineer to determine if it can do what I say it can. There seems to be no one in the California government with even a shred of curiosity to spend 30 minutes to review what might be the permanent answer to California’s water problem.

I left The Peoples Republic of Kalifornia in 1994. I saw Big Brother coming and I voted with my feet. Sheeple of California you brought this on yourselves. I have no sympathy for you. I am too busy fighting the Demofascists in Washington who want to turn the entire country into Kalifornia.

Thomas, You also need to include the release of millions of gallons of water into the ocean in order to lower the temperature for the salmon. CA is known for wasting water for wildlife causes in place of its citizens and farms Joe

The entire water resource board should be fired immediately. This could have easily been prevented, or at least mitigated, had they not allowed most of the mountain snow runoff to go straight to the ocean due to a 3″ bait fish, and to punish the central valley for not supporting their ridiculous rules. They should be prosecuted for malfeasance as well. The greeniacs control Sacramento and the dems are too afraid of them to deal with the problem. This state has gone to hades in it’s policies. And yet they allow illegals to flow like water into the state and then take their possible jobs by drying up the fields and filling the most prime farmland in America with solar panels. Jerry Brown started this crap 30 years ago and he is back to make sure it continues. If you like foreign oil, you are gonna love foreign food. Maybe China will be nice enough to send us food, LOL

And nothing will happen. In California we have a legislature that is controlled by democrats who use their power to maintain their power by hurting the minority party instead of doing something for the people. This legislature is also controlled by public employee unions so any work that will be done will have to be done by union labor thus driving up costs. The legislature also answers to enviromentalist who stand in the way of any kind of new damn proposal, not to mention the EPA and all of the strangling regulatory hurdles that we must face.

Expecting Democrats to actually govern is absurd. That is not their job. Their job is to expropriate resources from people who work, save, and invest and to give them to people who do not work, save or invest and then to vilify the ones who do work, save or invest. Got it?

Great article and great comments too. We’re up to 56 comments (57 counting this one) and no one has blamed CA’s problems on the Republicans yet. A record!

Seriously, whatever criticisms one can make of the state govt – there are many – the elected representatives keep on getting, er, elected. The people of CA are getting what they deserve, good and hard.

The fact that the board is fining so called “Water Hogs” shows not the failure of the citizenry of California but the failure of government. It is inconceivable that nothing of any significance has been done in California over the last 40 years. I hope a number of people will read this article. It’s a make sense argument about how California government has totally failed the people of this state. This is not to say that we shouldn’t always be frugal about our use of water but this has reached the state of idiocy. We have got to vote out of office these non-productive people in our government. Thanks for your article Mr. Beccaro in exposing the inefficiency of our state government.

You have hit the target on this. The Water Resources Board is a non-elected entity that throws its power out without discretion. It is a prime example of a government bureaucracy run amok! Our law enforcement agencies are overwhelmed with current serious criminals. Now, we want to add mom & pop next door to that workload? Ridiculous!

I don’t see building or pool permits suspended. Nothing about this makes sense.

Environmentalists had 3 California reservoirs torn down, they were not only holding water in case of drought they produced electricity, they stopped the construction of a dam that was under construction, they believe most humans are harming Mother Earth and are to be eliminated in order to save the planet….read U.N. Agenda 21….God tells us to be wise stewards of the planet…we are to take care of it, not make it an object to worship

I left California in 1991, they were broke and dysfunctional then, and I see that it has not gotten any better. City and state govt. believes that is their job to give away money and benefits to whoever asks for them, as long as they are a favored group, and as long as they are not taxpayers. At one time it was the 5th largest economy in the world, think of that, only 4 countries in the world had a larger economy. I believe they have dropped considerably Rather than doing more to encourage more and greater private economy, think of how these stupid people can only think of how to give away money, and cannot evaluate projects that will not only bring private sector jobs, not directly or indirectly paid for by taxpayers, but have the future potential to bring in more and new technologies. These people are MORONS. And now they want the state to be part of Mexico, and they don’t even understand their real history!! I wonder how many drug lords can you fit in the state of California !!!

Recently when visiting friends in San Diego, I was amazed to note that everywhere we dined, water was placed on the table in spite of the fact that we ordered other beverages. And the shower in my hotel room put out more water than the drain could handle! No way to regulate it. When I complained to the front desk, they dismissed it saying, “that’s ok; we buy credits.” Whatever that means. Finally, San Diego is still allowing plastic bags. Here in Austin, these bags were outlawed two years ago. Everyone brings their shopping bags, and the world did not come to an end.

​Water without doubt is a key priority for California. You are right to be alarmed at where this issue stands relative to transportation. As for immigration colliding with water, there is a way to deal with this doomsday scenario. That way is to introduce an immigration program like the EB5 federal program, or to redirect that one, to address economic priorities like water and infrastructure renewal. Such a policy shift could re-direct much needed foreign capital into addressing priority needs in the USA, as opposed to more hotels and apartments, while avoiding new taxes and further burdening the working people in states like California. Enlightened leadership is needed for this to happen.